Of Froyo and Awkward First Meetings
by mazberrypie
Summary: "I thought you were my friend so I slapped your ass in greeting" for the ask meme, with one of the pairings from the ML infamous love square maybe?" Ask prompt over on tumblr from runastorm that escalated.


It was a busy day in the shopping district of Paris, everyone eager to get out while the sun was shining. There were tourists and Parisians packed wall to wall, Marinette huddled in a corner as she lifted up on to her tippy toes to try and get a better vantage point. Being short _below average height_ in a courtyard full of people was a struggle, to say the least, and it didn't help that her shopping buddy was nowhere to be found. Her and Nathanaël had been planning this outing for a while since they hadn't gotten a chance to spend much time together since the school year ended.

Theirs was a bit of an odd friendship. Though Nath used to have a crush on Marinette back in junior high, he'd gotten over it by the time they were entering the same arts school. The two stuck together, it was just them at the charter school and not anyone else from their old class, and ended up becoming close friends.

That day they were supposed to be hanging out, but it had been fifteen minutes and Marinette hadn't seen hide nor hair of the boy.

 _M: Where are you?_ She shot off a text, trying to avoid the worst of the crowds by ducking into a store.

A beat later she got a reply. _N: I'm in the plaza. Where are_ _ **you**_ _?_

Marinette glanced up at the store sign, sending the name to Nathanaël **.**

 _N: Okay, I'm right across from there. Come meet me at the froyo place._

Peeking out of the little shop, Marinette saw the vibrant sign of the frozen yogurt shop on the other side of the plaza. Gathering up her courage (she was a superhero, for Pete's sake!), she started making her way to the shop, looking around for Nath. The crowd was so thick (and _tall_ ) that Marinette was having a hard time find him and she pulled out her phone once more.

 _M: I don't see you? What are you wearing?_

 _N: Just a black hoodie_

Marinette huffed, of course he'd be wearing a hoodie on one of the hottest days of the year. That did make it simpler, a black sweatshirt would be easy to pick out among all the tank-tops and short sleeves.

Closer to the froyo place, Marinette caught sight of a tall person with their back to her, a black hoodie pulled up over their head. She chuckled, no wonder she couldn't find him, his bright red hair was tucked away in a hood.

Approaching a hooded Nath, Marinette smirked to herself, know exactly how she was going to pay him back for being so damned hard to find.

"Sup babe!" Marinette shouted when she reached his elbow and slapped his ass in greeting.

Nathanaël jumped a foot in the air, and let loose the highest, squeakiest shriek she'd ever heard. Marinette broke into giggles, grabbing her stomach.

"Oh my god Nath." Marinette gasped through her laughter. "Dude, are you okay?"

Nath turned to face her and _holy fuck that was_ _ **not Nathanaël**_.

"Oh _shit_."

It was an equal tall guy, he looked around her age, wearing big shade and a red, slightly scandalized, expression. His blonde hair swept over his forehead and back into his hood, but even with the sunglasses and the covering Marinette recognized him in an instance.

"Oh my fucking god I just slapped Adrien Agr-" Marinette said in a loud wheeze, and Adrien clamped a hand over her mouth before glancing around and tugging her into a little alcove.

He released her when they were hidden from sight, tugging off his hood and glasses. "How did you know it was me?!"

His voice was a little stringy, and his cheeks were still red. He looked less angry and more embarrassed. If Marinette wasn't so freaked out herself she would have noticed that Adrien was blinking down at her with something akin to familiarity. His brow furrowed like he was trying to identify her face. As it was, Marinette was much too busy being _mid crisis_ to really see that.

"I swear to god, I didn't know it was you, I was just looking for Nath and he's wearing a black hoodie too! I was supposed to meet him at the froyo place like fifteen minutes ago but I couldn't find him so he told me what he was wearing and then I saw you and thought you were _him_ and I-"

Marinette's panicked rambling was cut off by Adrien once again, though this time with his hands on her shoulders rather than over her mouth.

"Hey, breathe a second, it's okay."

Letting out a wheeze, Marinette forced herself to suck in some air before releasing it unevenly. She repeated this a few more times, Adrien nodding encouragingly all the while. When her breath was steady she started again.

"I really didn't know it was you." Marinette muttered.

"I believe you." Adrien responded simply. "I don't think you would have reacted like that if it was."

"Y-yeah." Marinette gave a weak chuckle.

Now that her attention wasn't on breathing and her brain was no longer in _Major Panic Mode_ , Marinette was able to see Adrien a little more clearly. Her initial reaction had been scared and a bit starstruck, but upon a closer inspection it was easy to see he wasn't doing so hot. He had some dark bags under his eyes, his hair a little lifeless compared the usually vibrancy it had in the magazines.

"Hey, are _you_ okay?" Marinette asked, leaning towards him to get a better look at his face. "Why are you wearing a hoodie and shades to get froyo anyways."

"Um, well." Adrien released her shoulders and scratched at his neck. "Is it so weird to wear a hoodie?"

"In 80 degree heat it is." Marinette deadpanned, crossing her arms.

"Um...you said your friend is wearing a hoodie too!"

Marinette waved a hand, "he's an 'artist'. Wearing weird clothes is part of his job description. Last I checked, wearing nice, _designer_ clothes is part of yours."

"You've got a point there." Adrien smirked, then deflated. "Okay, I'm not, _strictly speaking_ , supposed to be out here."

"Okay..." Marinette prompted when he didn't say anything else.

"I have a _very slight_ cold, and I'm supposed to be resting, but I just wanted froyo _really badly_."

Marinette pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"So you're telling me that Adrien Agreste, supermodel extraordinaire and son of probably the biggest name in fashion _ever_ , had to sneak out of his house to get froyo? Don't you have like, a million butlers for that?"

"Yeah, but... Nathalie wouldn't have known what I wanted..."

" _Oh my god_."

"Don't judge me!" Adrien pouted, giving a pitiful sniffle. "I'm sick!"

"Oh, poor baby." Marinette huffed, rolling her eyes. "If you're sick you should have just stayed home."

"But the _froyo_."

Marinette opened up her mouth to retort when her phone went off. She snapped her jaw shut, frowning as she pulled it out.

"Ah, it's Nath." Swiping to unlock her phone, Marinette brought the phone up to her ear. "Hey!"

" _Mari where are you?! I'm by the froyo place and I can't see you."_

"Yeah, sorry. I got-" Marinette glanced over at Adrien, who was giving her a strange, unreadable look. "-uh, caught up in something else."

" _Okay, do you want me to order?_ "

"Yeah, I'll have a-"

" _Strawberry swirl with gummy bears. Please, Mari."_

"You're the best!" Marinette grinned, only to frown when Adrien sneezed. "I'll see in you a bit."

"' _Kay!"_

Nath hung up, leaving Marinette to turn to Adrien and consider him. "You should go home."

"What? But I was so close!" Adrien gestured to the yogurt shop, crossing his arms reluctantly. "At least let me get my yogurt first."

"Fine, but then you really should go rest."

"Fine, I will!" Adrien responded, a little more aggressively than he seemed to expect because he wilted. "Uh. Sorry. My ears are clogged and I can't really hear, so volume is an issue."

"It's fine." Marinette chuckled, straightening out her shirt and looking up at him expectantly. "Am I free to go?"

"I wasn't keeping you captive or anything..."

"Well, you did drag me back here with a hand over my mouth." Marinette chirped, then thought about it a second. "I'm surprised no one freaked out about that..."

"That was only because of your unsolicited ass slap!" Adrien argued, turning faintly pink.

Marinette winced. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, it gave me a chance to talk to you." Adrien paused, looking surprised to have said as much. "I must be sicker than I thought."

Feeling her own cheeks get hot, Marinette laughed.

"It's fine." She repeated. "Nath is probably waiting for me, so..."

"Yeah, uh, you should probably go."

Marinette lingered a moment, waiting to see if there was anything else Adrien had to say He didn't quite meet her eyes, looking over her shoulder a bit, and Marinette sighed before heading towards the plaza again. She was halfway into the sun when a voice stopped her.

"Wait, I-" Adrien jogged up to her, stopped at her side.

"Yes?"

Adrien stared down at her, his eyes searching her expectant expression. "Uh, is Nath your boyfriend?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, _hard_ , and held out a hand. "You got a phone?"

"No, uh." Adrien patted his pockets, looking confused by the sudden topic change. "I left it at home."

"Of course." Marinette rolled her eyes again, opening up her purse to find a pen. "Hand."

Arien stuck out his hand, looking bewildered, as Marinette wrote down a series of numbers on his wrist. He stared down at it as she pulled away, his face looking hopeful.

"Is this-"

"My number." Marinette stated, tucking her pen back into her purse. "Call me when your fever breaks, kay?"

"Okay." Adrien beamed at her, and he somehow managed to look like a model for a moment through his cold.

Marinette patted his arm and made for the froyo place. "See you later."

"Wait, one more thing!" Adrien called and Marinette merely turned in place to face him. "What's your name? I want to be able to call you more than 'the pretty girl that slapped my ass and ordered me to get some rest' when I'm retelling this to my friends."

Something about his cheeky grin was so familiar to Marinette, and yet, she couldn't quite place it.

"It's Marinette." She gave him her biggest, widest smile (Alya like to call it the Heartbreaker). "Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"I'm Adrien." He said, a bit breathlessly.

"Yeah." Marinette laughed, turning away once more. "I know."

 **AN: *later at the froyo place***

 **Mari: you coming to the same place as me kind of ruined my dramatic exit...**  
 **Nath: who tf is this sickly man**

 **Like the summary says, this was an ask prompt over on tumblr by my buddy, the wonderful runastorm. I'm always open to prompts, they may be a little late but I'll get to them eventually ehehehe**


End file.
